Synopsis

"The uniqueness of this work lies not only in the character himself, whose singularity the title emphasizes by ironically referencing the hagiographic tradition; but also in the fact that it explores a document that is itself a curious product of manipulation." – Ermanno Paccagnini, la LetturaThe daring story begins in a very poor village in the Apennines and ends in a sumptuous eighteenth-century villa, where the man, Upilio Faimali, wanders followed by his last panther, sighing for the time when he petted bears and lions like house cats. The prose of "A Short Life of a Beast Tamer" unfolds amidst encounters of all kinds—nostalgic captains and aristocrats, heads of state and avaricious impresarios—as well as downfalls and absolute triumphs. Underpinned by subtle and effective humor, the work tells the story of a man willing to do anything, a metaphor for an obsession that concerns us all: to master the unmasterable, to overcome the sense of precariousness in the face of nature's uncontrollable ferocity. Halfway between a picaresque novel, a historical portrait of 19th-century Italy and Europe, and a fictionalized biography...